Dr Rayner Tan Kay Jin is doctorate holder in public health. His academic interests revolve broadly around the social determinants of health, community engagement, implementation science, and health equity of vulnerable communities.

Tan was a recipient of the Fulbright Visiting Research Scholarship for the academic year 2022/2023 and is receiving training in implementation sciences as a fellow of the HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Health Implementation Research Institute (HIGH-IRI) of Washington University in St. Louis, USA. He is currently Deputy Editor of the Journal of the International AIDS Society, Academic Editor of PLOS Global Public Health, and a Perspectives Editor at Sexually Transmitted Infections. He also actively contributes to the organizing and scientific committees of the International AIDS Society and International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) conferences.

Tan also leads several community organisations. He is the president of Project X, serving the health and social needs of sex workers, and Chairperson/Director at The Greenhouse Community Services Limited, a charity providing substance use recovery services for marginalised groups in Singapore. He also currently serves as the Treasurer for the Society of Behavioural Health, Singapore and a co-lead at SG Mental Health Matters. He is a member of the Ministry of Health Agency for Care Effectiveness Consumer Panel and represents patient voices in the space of mental health and vulnerable communities.

Tan was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China (UNC Project-China) in Guangzhou, China, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases in Singapore. He was the lead author of the SG Mental Health Matters public consultation 2021 report.

Tan graduated with a Ph.D. from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, with his studies being sponsored by The Courage Fund. He is the Treasurer of the Society of Behavioural Health and a social scientist conducting research on HIV, sexually transmitted infections and substance use. Tan is also a recipient of the National University Health System's Singapore Population Health Improvement Centre fellowship, the DBS Bank school valedictorian award in social sciences and the Asia Pacific AIDS and Co-Infections Conference Fellowship. He has served as a peer reviewer for more than 20 scientific journals and is currently an Associate Editor of the journal BMC Public Health, as well as part of the editorial board of the British Medical Journal’s Sexually Transmitted Infections journal[1].

In 2018, Tan published a total of 4 manuscripts (3 of them as the first author) in peer-reviewed journals, with 5 more currently under review (3 of them as the first author). Some of the papers formed part of his Ph.D. thesis on the sociocultural determinants of HIV/STI testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Singapore, while others focused on pertinent issues in HIV prevention such as the implementation and roll-out of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in Singapore, and on sexualised substance use among MSM.

Tan made several poster presentations at the 22nd International AIDS Conference (2018), the STI 2018 pre-conference in Amsterdam (4 poster presentations), and at the Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress 2018 (2 poster presentations; photo attached). In terms of oral presentations, he was invited as faculty at the Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress 2018 to speak at the Sexual Health Symposium on Sociobehavioural Approaches to HIV/STI, and as an invited speaker at several scientific and policy meetings across the year, such as the quarterly Sexual Health Workgroup Meetings, Society of Behavioural Health Singapore’s Scientific Meeting, NCID HIV Grand Round, and at the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Research Round. In 2019, he served as a discussant at a public lecture by Dr Judith Auerbach, a prominent sociologist in the field of HIV science, and will be a panelist at the 11th Singapore AIDS Conference.

Tan was a founding member, and has been appointed as the Pro-Tem Treasurer, of the Society of Behavioural Health and was part of the organising committee for its inaugural Scientific Meeting held on 29 September 2018. Currently, he is the SSHSPH graduate research student representative for the 2nd term. He has also volunteered as an Abstract Mentor for the 10th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science that was held in Mexico City in 2019, and he celebrated a new milestone in his professional research career by serving as a manuscript reviewer (International Journal of Drug Policy; 2017 Impact Factor 4.244).

He was awarded the SSHSPH Infectious Diseases Programme Research Grant as a principal investigator with a total funding of SGD$30,000 for a study entitled "Effectiveness of an online video intervention to address internalised homophobia and improve sexual health outcomes among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men: a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial (RCT)". This RCT involved a collaboration with Action for AIDS to evaluate the efficacy of mHealth initiatives on primary and secondary HIV prevention strategies among MSM in Singapore. He also received a SGD$50,000 funding from NUHS SPHERiC as a co-investigator for a project entitled Predictors of syndemic risks among a young gay and bisexual male cohort: a prospective cohort study. This was a prospective cohort study that attempted to identify sociocultural determinants of HIV/STI risk among MSM in Singapore. These studies contributed to his PhD thesis as well.

Academic positions[]

Assistant Professor, NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (Primary)
Visiting Research Fellow, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore
Affiliate, Centre for Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Research Associate, Centre for Family and Population Research, NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Research areas[]

Community engagement and participatory approaches
Implementation sciences
HIV and other sexually transmitted infections
Sexual and reproductive health
Social determinants of health
Social epidemiology
Sociology of health and illness
Substance use and dependence
Stigma and discrimination
Suicide
Trauma-informed care and approaches

Teaching areas[]

Qualitative Research Methods
Social Determinants of Health
Medical Sociology
Public Health Research Methods
Community-Based Participatory Methods

Academic/Professional qualifications[]

PhD (Public Health), Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore
BSocSc (Sociology), School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University

Awards/Honours[]

Gilead Research Scholars Program in HIV (2023)
Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar Award 2022-2023, United States Department of State (2022)
HIV Infectious Disease and Global Health Implementation Research Institute (HIGH IRI) Fellowship, Washington University in St. Louis (2022)
NUS Society (NUSS) Medal for Outstanding Achievement, Class of 2021, National University of Singapore (2021)
Prestige 40 Under 40 (2021)
Asia-Pacific AIDS & Co-Infections Conference (APACC) Fellowship, Virology Education (2020)
Singapore Population Health Improvement Centre (SPHERiC) Fellowship, National University Health System (2019)
Social Innovation in Health Initiative Fellowship, Social Innovation in Health Initiative (2022)

Career History[]

2021-2023: Visiting Research Fellow, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore
2021-2023: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of North Carolina Project-China, Guangzhou, China
2021-2021: Visiting Scholar, Columbia Population Research Centre, Columbia University in the City of New York
2021-2021: Postdoctoral Fellow, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore

Administrative Leadership[]

2024-Present: Treasurer, Society of Behavioural Health, Singapore
2022-Present: Advisor, HeHealth.ai
2021-Present: President, Project X Society
2020-Present: Co-Lead, SG Mental Health Matters
2020-Present: Chairman and Director, The Greenhouse Community Services Ltd
2022-2024: Vice-President, Society of Behavioural Health, Singapore
2019-2022: Treasurer, Society of Behavioural Health, Singapore
2018-2019: Pro-Tem Treasurer, Society of Behavioural Health, Singapore

Professional/Consulting Activities[]

2024-Present: Consultant, FHI 360
2024-Present: Member, Agency for Care Effectiveness Consumer Panel
2024-Present: Member, Global Black Gay Men Connect Sustainability Caucus
2024-Present: Member, TREAT Asia (American Foundation for AIDS Research) Community Advisory Board
2024-Present: Co-Chair, Singapore AIDS Conference 2024
2023-Present: Deputy Editor, Journal of the International AIDS Society
2023-Present: Academic Editor, PLOS Global Public Health
2023-Present: Early Career Researcher Committee Co-Chair, 25th International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections World Congress
2023-Present: Young Impact Leader Advisory Committee Member, AVPN Asian Youth Mental Wellbeing Fund
2022-Present: Organizing Committee Member, 12th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2023)
2020-Present: Organizing and Scientific Committee Member, Asia-Pacific AIDS & Co-Infections Conference (APACC)
2021-Present: Grant Panelist, Ministry of Health Office for Healthcare Transformation Movements for Health (M4H)
2019-Present: Perspectives Editor, Sexually Transmitted Infections
2020-2023: Associate Editor, BMC Public Health
2020-2021: Member, Department Ethics Review Committee, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
Serves as expert witness in legal cases for opinions on stigma and discrimination towards men who have sex with men in Singapore, and on the effect of viral suppression on the risks of HIV transmission through sexual contact

Publications[]

Selected publications[]

Chemsex among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Singapore and the challenges ahead: A qualitative study, RKJ Tan, CM Wong, I Mark, C Chen, YY Chan, MAB Ibrahim, OZ Lim, International Journal of Drug Policy 61, 31-37 17, 2018.
Decriminalisation of Same-sex Relations and Social Attitudes: An Empirical Study of Singapore, LJ Chua, D Su, RKJ Tan, KW Jie, Hong Kong Law Journal 47, 793-824 14*, 2017.
Clinics as spaces of costly disclosure: HIV/STI testing and anticipated stigma among gay, bisexual and queer men, RKJ Tan, N Kaur, PA Kumar, E Tay, A Leong, MIC Chen, CS Wong, Culture, health & sexuality 22 (3), 307-320 10, 2020.
Extent and selectivity of sexual orientation disclosure and its association with HIV and other STI testing patterns among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, RKJ Tan, AKJ Teo, N Kaur, J Harrison-Quintana, CS Wong, I Mark, Sexually transmitted infections 95 (4), 273-278 9, 2019.
“Not a walking piece of meat with disease”: meanings of becoming undetectable among HIV-positive gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in the U= U era, RKJ Tan, JM Lim, JKW Chan, AIDS care 32 (3), 325-329 7, 2020.
Internalized homophobia, HIV knowledge, and HIV/AIDS personal responsibility beliefs: Correlates of HIV/AIDS discrimination among MSM in the context of institutionalized stigma, RKJ Tan, Journal of Homosexuality 66 (8), 1082-1103 7, 2019.
Developing a typology of HIV/STI testing patterns among gay, bisexual, and Queer men: a framework to guide interventions, RKJ Tan, N Kaur, MIC Chen, CS Wong, Qualitative Health Research 30 (4), 610-621 4, 2020.
Trends in unprotected intercourse among heterosexual men before and after brothel ban in Siem Reap, Cambodia: a serial cross-sectional study (2003–2012), ML Wong, AKJ Teo, BC Tai, AMT Ng, RBT Lim, DKT Tham, N Kaur, BMC public health 18 (1), 411 4, 2018.
Cost and anonymity as factors for the effective implementation of pre-exposure prophylaxis: an observational study among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in …, RKJ Tan, AKJ Teo, N Kaur, J Harrison-Quintana, I Mark, C Chen, Sexual health 15 (6), 533-541 4, 2018.
“Do I need to or do I want to?” A typology of HIV status disclosure among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, JM Lim, RKJ Tan, JKW Chan, AIDS care 32 (sup2), 142-147 1, 2020.
Mobilizing civil society for the HIV treatment cascade: a global analysis on democracy and its association with people living with HIV who know their status, RKJ Tan, CS Wong, Journal of the International AIDS Society 22 (8), e25374 1, 2019.
Acceptability of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Opinions on PrEP Service Delivery Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Singapore: A Qualitative Study, CS Wong, PA Kumar, CM Wong, BCH Choong, OZ Lim, YY Chan, AIDS Education and Prevention 31 (2), 152-162 1, 2019.
Research news in clinical context, K Shields, RKJ Tan, S Rusconi, C Xiang-Sheng, Sexually Transmitted Infections 96 (8), 553-554, 2020.
Delineating Patterns of Sexualized Substance use and its Association with Sexual and Mental Health Outcomes Among Young Gay, Bisexual and Queer Men in Singapore: A Latent Class …, RKJ Tan, CA O’Hara, WL Koh, D Le, A Tan, A Tyler, C Tan, C Kwok, 2020.
Potential interactions between the pathways to diagnosis of HIV and other STIs and HIV self-testing: insights from a qualitative study of gay, bisexual and other men who have …, RKJ Tan, YY Chan, MAB Ibrahim, LP Ho, OZ Lim, BCH Choong, Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2020.
Characterizing and measuring tuberculosis stigma in the community: a mixed-methods study in Cambodia, AKJ Teo, RKJ Tan, C Smyth, V Soltan, S Eng, C Ork, N Sok, S Tuot, Open forum infectious diseases 7 (10), ofaa422, 2020.
A Latent Class Analysis of COVID-19 Testing Response, Globalisation, and Democracy with National COVID-19 Outcomes: A Global Ecological Study, VVX Lim, K Prem, AKJ Teo, RKJ Tan, LANGLH-D-20-02931, 2020.
STI perspectives, G Villa, SK Edwards, RKJ Tan, Sexually Transmitted Infections 96 (6), 393-394, 2020.
Conducting rapid qualitative research to support sex workers’ health and social needs in the face of COVID-19: capitalising on stakeholder networks from the HIV response in …, RKJ Tan, JM Lim, JJM Lo, AKJ Teo, CA O'Hara, AH Ching, V Ho, Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2020.
Concealment of Potential Exposure to COVID-19 and Its Impact on Outbreak Control: Lessons from the HIV Response, AKJ Teo, RKJ Tan, K Prem, The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, tpmd200449, 2020.
Research news in clincal context, SK Edwards, F Ceccherini-Silberstein, RKJ Tan, Sexually Transmitted Infections 96 (3), 235-236, 2020.
Effect of a web drama video series on HIV and other sexually transmitted infection testing among gay, bisexual and queer men: study protocol for a community-based, pragmatic …, RKJ Tan, WL Koh, D Le, A Tan, A Tyler, C Tan, S Banerjee, CS Wong, BMJ open 10 (4), e033855, 2020.
Individual, interpersonal, and situational factors influencing HIV and other STI risk perception among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men: a qualitative study, RKJ Tan, N Kaur, MIC Chen, CS Wong, AIDS care, 1-6, 2020.
Protocol: Effect of a web drama video series on HIV and other sexually transmitted infection testing among gay, bisexual and queer men: study protocol for a community-based …, RKJ Tan, WL Koh, D Le, A Tan, A Tyler, C Tan, S Banerjee, CS Wong, BMJ Open 10 (4), 2020.
Socioecological differences in factors associated with inconsistent condom use with female sex workers and casual partners: an observational study of heterosexual men attending …, K Takashima, GWJ Yeoh, HE Chua, PLM Ting, JY Chong, RKJ Tan, Sexual Health 16 (6), 593-595, 2019.
Proceedings of Inaugural Scientific Meeting & Symposiums, J Chen, C Ang, K Griva, WC Seong, F Lei, R Tan, WM Lian, 2018.
Correlates of HIV/AIDs Discrimination in Men who Have Sex with Men: the Case of Singapore, KJR Tan, Singapore Management University, 2016.
Reflections on an interdisciplinary curriculum and pedagogical approaches in a public health course, J Azfar, RKJ Tan.
Mody, A., Sohn, A. H., Tan, R. K. J., Iwuji, C., Venter, F, Geng, E. (2023). HIV: epidemiology, prevention, treatment, and strategies for public health. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01381-8.
Zhao, R., Fairley, C. K., Cook, A. R., Phanuphak, N., He, S., Tieosapjaroen, W., Chow, E. P. F., Phillips, T. R., Tan, R. K. J., Wei, Y., Shen, M., Zhuang, G.,Ong, J. J., Zhang, L. (In press). Optimizing HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and testing strategies in men who have sex with men in Australia, Thailand and China: a modelling study and cost-effectiveness analysis. The Lancet Global Health.
Byrne, M., Tan R. K. J. (Co-First Author), Wu, D., Marley, G., Hlatshwako, T. G., Tao, Y., Bissram, J., Nachman, S., Tang W., Ramaswamy R., Tucker J. D. (2023). Prosocial Interventions and Health Outcome: A Meta-Analysis. JAMA Network Open. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. Vaccine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.02.025
Tan R. K. J., Lourdesamy M. (2023). Social Determinants of Health and Global Public Health. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Social Sciences and Global Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96778-9_3
O’Hara, C., Foon, X. L., Ng, J., Wong, C. S., Wang, F., Tan, C., Cheah, Y. T., Griva, K., Yoong, J., Tan, R. K. J. (2023). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) healthcare in Singapore: perspectives of non-governmental organisations and clinical year medical students. Medical Education Online. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2023.2172744.
Hurtado-Murillo, F., Cleeve, A., González, S. C., Albamonte, V. F., Blanco, L., Schröder, J., Olumide, A., Perotta, G., Saltis, H., Marks, M., Hendriks, J., Larsson, E., Ekström, A. M., Esho, T., Wu, D., Briken, P., Hlatshwako, T., Ryan, R., Daliana, N., Bravo, R. G., Velde, S. V., Michielsen, K., Tucker, J. D., I-SHARE Research Consortium. (2023). Intimate partner violence prior to and during COVID-19 measures: A global multi-country cross-sectional study from the I-SHARE consortium. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605221141865.
Tan, R. K. J., Tang, W., Tucker, J. D. (2022). Public health services and intersectional stigma – A social sciences perspective with implications for HIV service design and delivery. Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS. 18(1), 18-26. https://doi.org/10.1097/COH.0000000000000769.
Tan, R. K. J., Cook, A. R. (2022). Singapore’s HIV disclosure law in the context of progress towards the 90-90-90 goals: a call for greater action in the Western Pacific. The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, 29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2022.100588.
Tan, R. K. J., Koh, W. L., Le, D., Banerjee, S., Chio, M. T., Chan, R. K. W., Wong, C. M., Tai, B. C., Wong, M. L., Cook, A. R., Chen, M. I., Wong, C. S. (2022). Effect of a popular web drama video series on HIV and other sexually transmitted infection testing among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Singapore: a community-based, pragmatic, randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(5), e31401. https://doi.org/10.2196/31401
Tan, R. K. J., Wu, D., Day, S., Zhao, Y., Larson, H., Sylvia, S., Tang, W, Tucker, J. D. (2022). Digital Approaches to Enhancing Community Engagement in Clinical Trials. npj Digital Medicine, 5(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00581-1
Toller-Erasquin, J., Tan, R. K. J. (Co-First Author), Uhlich, M., Francis, J., Kumar, N., Campbell, L., Zhang, W., Hlatshwako, T., Kosana, P., Shah, S., Brenner, E. M., Remmerie, L., Mussa, A., Klapilova, K., Mark, K., Perotta, G., Gabster, A., Wouters, W., Burns, S., Hendriks, J., Eleuteri, S., Sahril, N., Low, W. Y., Plasilova, L., Lazdane, G., Olumide, A., Michielsen, K., Moreau, C., Tucker, J. D., I-SHARE Research Consortium. (2022). The International Sexual Health And Reproductive Health Survey (I-SHARE-1): A Cross-Sectional Multi-Country Analysis of Adults from 30 Countries Prior to and During the Initial COVID-19 Wave. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciac102
Tan, R. K. J.*, Phua, K., Tan, A., Gan, D. C. G., Ho, L. P., Ong, E. J., See, M. T. (2021). Exploring the role of trauma in underpinning sexualised drug use (‘chemsex’) among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Singapore. International Journal of Drug Policy, 97, 103333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103333
Tan, R. K. J.*, Low, T. Q. Y., Le, D., Tan, A., Tyler, A., Tan, C., Kwok, C., Banerjee, S., Cook, A. R., Wong, M. L. (2021). Experienced Homophobia and Suicide Among Young Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Men in Singapore: Exploring the Mediating Role of Depression Severity, Self-Esteem, and Outness in the Pink Carpet Y Cohort Study. LGBT Health, 8(5), 349-358. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2020.0323
Tan, R. K. J.*†, Wang, Y.†, Prem, K., Teo, A. K. J., Kaur, N., Harrison-Quintana, J., Cook, A., Chen, M. I., Wong, C. S. (2021). PrEP or condoms, or both? Insights on risk compensation through a discrete choice experiment on PrEP preferences among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. Value in Health, 24(5), 714-723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2020.11.023

Personal struggles[]

Tan has memories of when he was about 15 to 16 years of age (in secondary school) when he would cry himself to sleep each night feeling empty inside[2]. He hated himself for many things including his sexual orientation, body image, Tourette’s syndrome tics, etc. He had experienced a fair share of bullying and rejection around being gay, and on top of that, he did not really feel safe to talk to anyone. He was convinced that it would be safer for him to keep it to himself, and it was a very lonely. painful period. The pain did not go away for awhile - he just learned to hide it a lot better through external achievements, and also by being a rather painful person to be around. After he left secondary school, he started experimenting with using drugs in his late teens as a way of numbing the pain and emptiness. It was a tumultuous period of his life. He was doing well in school but eventually dropped out of university and was sent to rehabilitation for his addiction.

Years later, he became a volunteer and director at The Greenhouse [3], a safe space for recovering drug addicts and a charity serving marginalised and vulnerable communities, including sexual minorities and people living with HIV.

References[]

Acknowledgements[]

This article was written by Roy Tan.

Rayner Tan

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